Davos, Switzerland – The U.S. Ski Team’s Kikkan Randall turned on the afterburners in the back stretch and left the field stranded as she won her second straight FIS Cross Country World Cup sprint in the Swiss ski resort of Davos on Sunday. Randall, who qualified first, swept every heat by large margins as she won by 1.7 seconds over Russian Natalia Matveeva to move into third in the FIS World Cup overall standings. Russian Alexey Petukhov won the men’s sprint with Andy Newell, of Shaftsbury, Vt., qualifying third but failing to advance to semifinals.
Sunday’s win was the second straightand third podium of the season for Randall, of Anchorage, Alaska. She beat her previous best result in Davos, a third place finish last season, and has notched five career World Cup wins. She is now placed third behind Norwegian powerhouse Marit Bjoergen in the World Cup overall standings and has a 240-194 lead over Russian ski racer Natalia Matveeva, Sunday’s second place finisher, in the sprint standings.
“It was a lot of hard racing today. I had to save a little bit of energy for the end, keep a good position near the front and go like crazy at the end,” said Randall. “This is why we cross country skiers train eight months a year so we can last as long as possible.
“I am really happy about my race today,” she surmised. “I had a good start in the prologue where I had the fastest time and then I could go hard in each of the different heats. In the quarterfinal I felt that it will be tough to go two rounds on this course but then all went well. It was a good atmosphere here in Davos and it was fun to ski.”
Randall’s teammate, Holly Brooks, also of Anchorage, continued her hot season opening by qualifying 18th before losing out in the quarterfinals.
“We’re obviously fired up by Holly’s qualification. But with the way things have been going the word surprised no longer fits,” said a proud Matt Whitcomb, the U.S. Ski Team’s Women’s Cross Country Coach. “It’s a true testament to hard and smart work done by Holly and her club (APU Nordic). As we search the country for the next World Cup skier it is comforting to know that APU is hard at work milling its current and future generation.”
In the men’s race, Newell qualified third but lost out of a spot in quarterfinals by a tenth in a race won by Russia’s Alexey Petukhov. Sweden completed the podium with Teodor Peterson and Emil Joensson finishing second and third, respectively. Canada’s Devon Kershaw finished just off the podium in fourth.
The World Cup now heads to Rogla, Slovenia for distance and sprint races next weekend.
“I’ve competed in all World Cup races so far in this season. Its tough but for that a cross country skiers is training hard in summer,” said Randall, adding, “but I also must admit that I am looking forward to the next weekend in Rogla and later on the Christmas break.”
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Cross Country Ski World Cup
Davos Switzerland – Dec. 11, 2011
Sprint
Women
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation |
| 1 | 1 | RANDALL Kikkan | 1982 | USA |
| 2 | 2 | MATVEEVA Natalia | 1986 | RUS |
| 3 | 10 | FALLA Maiken Caspersen | 1990 | NOR |
| 4 | 9 | BRODIN Hanna | 1990 | SWE |
| 5 | 4 | VAN DER GRAAFF Laurien | 1987 | SUI |
| 6 | 30 | WENG Heidi | 1991 | NOR |
| 7 | 3 | BJOERGEN Marit | 1980 | NOR |
| 8 | 6 | KOWALCZYK Justyna | 1983 | POL |
| 9 | 8 | CRAWFORD Chandra | 1983 | CAN |
| 10 | 17 | JACOBSEN Astrid Uhrenholdt | 1987 | NOR |
Men
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation |
| 1 | 4 | PETUKHOV Alexey | 1983 | RUS |
| 2 | 17 | PETERSON Teodor | 1988 | SWE |
| 3 | 6 | JOENSSON Emil | 1985 | SWE |
| 4 | 28 | KERSHAW Devon | 1982 | CAN |
| 5 | 20 | NORTHUG Petter jr. | 1986 | NOR |
| 6 | 5 | MORILOV Nikolay | 1986 | RUS |
| 7 | 2 | COLOGNA Dario | 1986 | SUI |
| 8 | 8 | GOLBERG Paal | 1990 | NOR |
| 9 | 12 | HARVEY Alex | 1988 | CAN |
| 10 | 21 | VOLOTKA Denis | 1985 | KAZ |
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